The basis of any media is content, since it is behind it, or rather its totality, within the framework of one media that consumers pay their attention to media resources. Content is absolutely any informational content of an information resource.

With the increasing interactivity of interaction between companies and consumers in the process of marketing communications, the receptivity of buyers to traditional forms of advertising decreases. Content marketing is a modern alternative to traditional promotion methods. Content strategy is an integral element of the company’s communication strategy, this applies not only to social networks but also to promotion in traditional media. If the company uses the principles of content marketing, it is impossible to carry out communication activities without an effective content strategy.

Modern information technologies allow users and companies to instantly share content with each other, rate and comment on it. Consumers are tired of the overwhelming amount of advertisements trying to win their attention. The modern consumer has learned to accurately identify and ignore advertising information, which reduces the effectiveness of the traditional concept of promoting goods and services. The outdated concept is replaced by content marketing, the essence of which is to provide the consumer with useful information without directly mentioning the product.

Content marketing is a set of marketing techniques based on the creation and/or distribution of information useful to the consumer in order to gain trust and attract potential customers. It involves the preparation and sharing of high-quality, relevant, and valuable information, which is not advertising but indirectly convinces the audience to make the decision necessary for the distributor, to choose his service. The benefits of content marketing are that it effectively grabs the audience’s attention, helps build trust, and subtly promotes a product or service on the market.

Media in the narrow sense is a collection of audio, television, and visual communication means, and in a broad sense, any means of advertising distribution.

However, modern media, oversaturated with content, often do not fully meet the needs of consumers due to the lack of unique content.

Mass media are considered classical media. For example, the totality of all television channels is television media, all newspapers and magazines are print media. New directions have been actively developing in recent decades. So, the totality of all mobile phones is mobile media (one of the most numerous today). The totality of all social networks is social media, a particular case of which is the blogosphere.

quality content should be relevant, educational, easy to read, and visually attractive. It is designed to engage the reader in dialogue and should not contain explicit advertising.

Content is the main component of any information flow. Depending on the senses involved in the process of understanding the content, its various forms are obvious as follows:

 

  • Video Content affects vision and hearing, that is, frames replace each other, accompanying the change with sound effects.
  • Audio Content affects only the ear, while its sub-types are distinguished: musical, voice.
  • Images affect vision but are static content; highlight photo content and illustrative content.
  • Text Content, despite the fact that it affects vision, requires greater concentration of attention for understanding.

 

In practice, there are mixed forms of content, when text is displayed in the video, and the voiceover is reading it. Such mixed forms are not considered in the framework of this work.

Based on the formation of the information flow, the roles of the content consumer are distinguished: passive and active.

Passive role. When fulfilling the passive role of a consumer of content, a person does not make additional efforts to form it, which he consumes. Media does not require a response from the consumer. Thus, traditional television offers a person a pre-formed information flow, which he himself cannot influence.

A conditionally passive role can be distinguished when the consumer makes minimal efforts to select new content. For example, watching television channels presupposes a choice between various information streams of competing television channels, that is, the maximum effort that a consumer makes – switching from one information stream to another.

When performing an active role, the consumer is required to form an information flow that he plans to consume.

Active and passive roles can be found in all types of media, from the most popular television to the Internet.